1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device of starting software applications installed on a mobile operating system (OS), and, more particularly, to a method of starting software applications installed on the Android OS in a multi-window mode and to a device using the starting method.
2. Description of the Related Art
Commonly used mobile OSs in the current market can be classified into either multi-tasking type or single-tasking type. A single-tasking OS in a single-tasking platform, such as iPhone®, allows users to run one software application (App) at a time, while a multi-tasking OS in a multi-tasking platform, such as the Android OS, allows users to run multiple applications simultaneously and in a background mode.
As the Android OS is an open-source software stack and has a kernel developed based on Linux and provides basic functions of OS, it is the job of app developers to develop desired apps running on the Android OS using the Java programming language. System manufacturers and app developers can adaptively build mobile devices equipped with the Android OS dedicated to different market demands.
With reference to FIG. 18, a conventional Android OS has a default system screen 90. The system screen 90 has a status bar 91 on a bottom of the system screen 90. The status bar 91 has a notification area 92 and multiple command icons 93. The notification area 92 is located on one end of the status bar 91 and serves to display current time and remaining power of a mobile device equipped with the Android OS. The command icons 93 are arranged on the other end of the status bar 91 to provide the default functions of returning to a previous screen and to the home screen, and listing recently started apps. After being selected, each started app on the system screen 90 is displayed in a full-screen mode. Other applications are unable to be started because the entire screen is occupied by the started app. Before returning to the system screen 90 to start other applications, users must terminate the application running under the full-screen mode.
For certain mobile device equipped with the Android OS, with reference to FIG. 19, the system screen 90 is shown and the status bar 91 further has a starting key 94 and an app menu 95. The starting key 94 takes the form of an up arrow initially, and is located on a center of the status bar 91. Once clicked, the starting key 94 is changed to the form of a down arrow key, the command icons 93 are hidden, and the app menu 95 is popped up on the system screen 90 and is displayed above the system bar 91. The app menu 95 lists all default applications of the system for users to conveniently and promptly select and start those applications. After being started, the applications in the app menu 95 are displayed in a multi-window mode.
However, except the default applications in the app menu 95, other third-party applications are unable to be incorporated into the app menu 95. In other words, except the default applications in the app menu 95, other applications should be executed under a full-screen mode and are unable to be executed under a multi-window mode. Hence, inconvenience and inefficiency arises when users want to run any application other than the default applications and simultaneously run multiple applications under the multi-window mode.